Chapter 287: Casino of Destiny

Beckland North District, within the layered dreams.

Leonard, wearing a white shirt, black vest, and a pair of red gloves, roams among the many dreams, contacts the dream's owner, creates accidents, turning beautiful dreams into nightmares, playing the role of a true nightmare.

He skillfully snatched the cake from a child's dream and, in front of the child, ate the cake.

The next moment, the dream began to shake violently, sometimes transparent, sometimes pitch‑black, with a wavering, unstable appearance.

"Is this about to wake up? Sure enough, children's dreams are easier to play with—just snatch a snack or a cake and you get such a big reaction."

Leonard muttered to himself, then turned, a spiritual aura enveloped him, and he swiftly left the dream.

After he left, he found himself in a deep black space, surrounded by countless illusory light spheres, dense in places and sparse in others.

Behind him, a semi‑transparent light sphere flickered a few times, then with a snap it shattered.

Leonard half‑closed his eyes, sensed the digestion progress of the nightmare elixir inside him, and a slight smile curved his mouth.

At his ear, Pa Lie Si's somewhat hoary voice suddenly echoed:

"You have received a letter, from that strange book."

"Hmm, a strange book?"

Leonard was momentarily unable to grasp what the strange book referred to.

After a brief silence, he guided his consciousness‑formed body to float toward the place he rented, that messenger who each time summons only throws out a sheet of paper?

His consciousness returned to his body; Leonard, leaning on the sofa, suddenly opened his eyes, and just as he raised his hand, felt a sheet of paper slip from his hand.

He let out a long sigh, and, relying on his familiarity with the room's layout, walked straight to the switch beside the gas wall lamp and pulled the wall‑mounted switch.

The next moment, a dim yellow light lit the room; Leonard, unaccustomed to the sudden bright glare, squinted slightly.

When his eyes adjusted to the light, he examined the letter in his hand while walking back to the sofa and sitting down.

"Heh, esteemed Mr. Pa Lie Si, and Leonard, am I some kind of accessory?"

Just reading the opening, Leonard curled his lip and muttered disdainfully.

He then lazily leaned back on the sofa and continued reading.

Soon he finished the not‑very‑long letter, tossed the paper aside, and, without changing expression, began chatting with the old man inside his body:

"The Grolser Travels. A completely real in‑book world, old man—could that be possible?"

"Nothing is impossible. You've been in the Night Church so long; haven't you checked the records on the Eight Ancient Gods?"

Pa Lie Si's tone remained the usual, though his voice showed a hint of hesitation.

Leonard's right hand unconsciously brushed his nose, then he changed the subject:

"Um, do you think he's telling the truth? One of your descendants, who survived from the Fourth Era—could that still be a saint, even an angel?"

"Impossible. Most of that path's traits are on A Meng; there are only a couple of demigods, all of whom ascended in the Fifth Era."

"If he fell into the so‑called in‑book world, it's possible he survived from the Fourth Era to now."

Pa Lie Si replied with a tone of helplessness and sigh.

"What exactly is an in‑book world?"

Leonard furrowed his brows, asking curiously.

He then tilted his head slightly, as if listening to something.

"Hmph—if you read more files and dossiers in the Night Church, you wouldn't have such ignorant questions."

"You shouldn't be unfamiliar with the name Imaginary Dragon."

"The great dragon king, one of the Eight Ancient Gods?"

Leonard interjected curiously.

"Don't interrupt me; can't you even read basic courtesy?"

Leonard immediately shut his mouth, waiting for the old man inside him to continue speaking.

"Hmph—" Pa Lie Si let out a light hum, then, as if pondering, began:

"Descriptions of the Imaginary Dragon appear in almost every book: whatever it imagines will manifest, whatever realm it fantasizes will descend into the material world, whatever future it declares will unfold and become reality."

"The realm it fantasizes will descend into the material world."

Leonard mused briefly, then suddenly exclaimed:

"So that in‑book world is the world imagined by the Imaginary Dragon?"

"The authority of the Imaginary Dragon was once reclaimed by the Ancient Sun God, then given to one of its own children; any of them could achieve that."

"Ancient Sun God?"

Leonard voiced his confusion; he had never heard of that deity, and the Night Church held no records on it.

"You don't need to know."

"Reply to him; you can give him the Dream Thief's elixir formula. The trade is that he must help me deal with the demigod of the thief's path."

"As for that in‑book world, ask him if he has more information."

Pa Lie Si's voice echoed in Leonard's mind for a while, then fell silent.

On the Golden Dream, Lei Ke Dun's silhouette suddenly traced itself on the deck.

He stepped toward the ship's side rail; a pale blue ripple rose behind him, and a "door" opened.

Ai De Wen Na then emerged from the other side of the "door", walking toward Lei Ke Dun as she spoke:

"I've observed your use of the 'door', made some analyses and tweaks, and, combined with certain arrangements on the Golden Dream, I can appear anywhere on the ship at any time."

"Nice idea. Perhaps you could also use the 'door' to lock onto enemies and launch attacks; that would have unexpected effects."

Lei Ke Dun whispered a compliment and offered some thoughts on the 'door's application.

Ai De Wen Na thought briefly, then nodded and replied:

"That's a good notion; I'll try to develop a new secret technique."

As they spoke, the two reached the rail, their expressions solemn as they stared at the sea beside them.

There was a huge five-masted sailing ship there, its decks lit up, with shadows occasionally moving about, and it was approaching the direction of the Golden Dream.

The ghost ship had little sign of the living, yet it was brightly lit like a passenger liner.

Rekton whispered softly, the purple halo in his eyes contracting and being covered with a layer of hazy white.

After a moment, his eyes cleared again, but his brows furrowed slightly.

That ship has anti-divination and anti-prophecy properties; I can't discern any useful information.

He turned his head to look at Edwina beside him; as a commander who had long stayed at sea on icebergs, she might know something.

Edwina frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and spoke somewhat uncertainly:

Ghost ships at sea are not few, but those with this level of anti-divination and anti-prophecy properties are not many.

The most famous among them is the 'Ghost Empire', one of the treasures of the Five Seas Civilization, originating from the Terlosote Empire of the Fourth Era.

Um, a ghost ship of unknown authenticity, it is called the 'Fate's Casino'.

Legend has it that whoever boards this ship will enter an endless gamble, but if anyone can escape the gamble, they will surely gain all the wealth accumulated on the ship; however, this ghost ship has long been considered a figment of pirates' imaginations.

Fate's Casino

Rekton muttered, recalling what Destini had said to him: could this ghost ship have been drawn here by the convergent effect of the previous Wheel of Fate card?

His gaze remained fixed on the huge ghost ship approaching from the side; he had just felt a momentary stir, wanting to obtain the prophetic property that lay before his eyes.

But as a prophet, his intuition warned him that doing so would be dangerous!

Time trickled by, and the huge ghost ship made no attempt to approach the Golden Dream; as the Golden Dream sped up, the ghost ship slipped past them.

At some point, a thin mist blanketed the sea, blocking most of the crimson moonlight; the sea grew unclear, and in the direction the ghost ship drifted away, only a dark shadow remained.

Edwina scanned the surrounding sea and spoke softly:

In legend, encountering the 'Fate's Casino' and choosing not to board will bring a certain misfortune.

Misfortune?

Rekton frowned slightly; he had felt nothing unusual just then.

Immediately, a layer of hazy white once again veiled his eyes; the mist‑covered sea in his vision shifted, threads of silver‑white intertwining and tangling like a vast river.

His gaze turned toward the future; the surrounding fate was slightly twisted, yet showed no abnormal traces, more like a ripple raised in the river of destiny.

Similar to a disaster priest, they continually suffer various misfortunes passively; however, this misfortune does not manifest on themselves but on the objects they have come into contact with.

After a moment of silent reflection, Rekton lifted his gaze to the already vanished Crimson Moon and whispered:

Perhaps tonight the sea will stir up a storm.

Edwina nodded slightly:

If it's just waves, it's not a big problem for the Golden Dream.

(End of chapter)